WeWork真的物有所值 WeWork in China will it

Money is fleeing China. Not all of China, though: the right investment idea can still attract cash. Late on Wednesday WeWork, the New York-based office space start-up, said it had received $430m in funding from investors including two China-based private equity funds, Hony Capital and Legend Holdings (they are affiliates). The deal values the company at $16bn.

资金正在撤离中国。但并非整个中国：合适的投资理念仍然可以吸引资金。周三晚些时候，总部位于纽约的办公空间租赁初创企业WeWork表示，已收到多家投资机构总值4.3亿美元的融资，其中包括两家中国私募基金：弘毅投资(Hony Capital)和联想控股(Legend Holdings)（弘毅投资是联想控股成员企业）。这笔融资令该公司估值达到160亿美元。

WeWork takes long-term leases on buildings, fitting them out and renting desks and offices to start-ups. The deal marks the two Chinese fund houses’ largest investment in a US company, according to Dealogic data. In the past three years, Hony and Legend have been involved in at least $8bn worth of transactions. Until now, only two of the top 20 — Hony’s buyout of the UK’s PizzaExpress and its recent purchase of a stake in Australian energy company Santos — have been in China. Still, Hony and Legend are not straying from familiar territory with WeWork: the funds raised will be used to help the company expand in Asia, with China a focus.

WeWork以长期合同租下整栋建筑，装修后再将其中的办公桌和办公室出租给初创企业。根据Dealogic的数据，这笔融资创下这两家中国基金公司向美国企业投资的最大金额。在过去三年里，弘毅和联想已涉及价值至少80亿美元的交易。迄今为止，规模排名前20的交易中，只有两笔是在中国以外——弘毅收购英国PizzaExpress的交易和它最近入股澳大利亚能源公司Santos的交易。尽管如此，弘毅和联想并没有因为投资WeWork而偏离他们熟悉的疆域：此次融资所得将用来帮助该企业在亚洲扩张，中国是重点。

In keeping with the bubbly trend for unlisted start-ups, the pricing is frothy. Regus, a UK-listed flexible workplace provider, is valued at just $4bn. That company claims 3,000 centres in 120 countries with 1.5m members. For a valuation four times as large, WeWork — still mainly US-focused — has 77 spaces in 23 cities to service its 50,000 customers.

与其他未上市的初创企业价格泡沫趋势一致，这笔交易的泡沫也很厉害。英国上市的灵活办公空间提供商Regus，市场估值仅40亿美元。该公司号称在120个国家拥有3000个办公中心和150万会员。估值四倍于其的WeWork（仍然很大程度上专注于美国市场）在23个城市拥有77个办公空间，服务于5万客户。

Many US companies have struggled to make headway in the Chinese market, even with domestic money behind them. Of the stable of “unicorns” — private companies valued highly by the market — Uber has been one of the most high-profile. The taxi-hailing app has faced stiff competition from local rival Didi Kuaiche, formed of two companies that merged last year, uniting forces against the US interloper. Last month, the company revealed it is burning more than $1bn a year in China — more than half the amount it raised in a China funding round in late 2015.

许多美国公司都很难在中国市场取得进展，即便有中国本地资金作为后盾也不例外。在那些“独角兽企业”（获估值较高的私有企业）中，Uber一直是最引人注目的一个。这款打车软件受到本地竞争对手滴滴快车强有力的竞争，滴滴快车在去年由两家公司合并以联手对付来自美国的市场闯入者。上个月，Uber透露其在中国一年烧钱超过10亿美元——超过它在2015年末从中国筹得资金的一半。